Going to the theater is different from it used to be. Back in my day, going to the cinema meant purchasing an overpriced ticket and concessions, then experiencing a film alongside a group of strangers in silence with occasional outbursts of laughter or surprise. Today, boutique theaters double as restaurants for outrageously priced pub-style food, with beer, wine, and cocktails to get you sauced for the evening’s feature presentation. Some people enjoy this kind of atmosphere. However, Danny McBride thinks serving food and drinks in cinemas is absurd, and he has an idea about improving the theater-going experience – marijuana!
Speaking with GQ magazine, Danny McBride said, “I hate it, I can’t stand it,” about serving dinner and drinks in the middle of a movie. “I also don’t think it makes sense to combine booze with movies. You’re going to have to piss. Doesn’t alcohol make you want to get up and get loose? You don’t want to sit there, drink beer, and just be quiet. I would have no interest in going to see a movie and just pounding IPAs. Just fucking falling asleep.”
While alcohol affects people differently, McBride’s argument about increasing the odds of using a bathroom during the film is sound. I barely touch my drink anytime I go into a theater, especially if I’m seeing a multi-hour epic like Dune: Part Two. I typically use the washroom right before the movie (during the commercials) and hope for the best.
While McBride is against eating food and imbibing alcoholic beverages, he thinks letting patrons smoke pot while they watch the movie could be a winning combination. “Movies and weed go together fucking perfectly,” McBride proclaims.
“McBride, [David Gordon] Green and their film-school buddy Jody Hill had at some point kicked around the idea of opening a theater with a built-in dispensary,” reads the GQ article. “Green Screen, they’d planned to call it. ‘If I went to a theater, and it was like, “Here’s your popcorn and here’s fucking weed,” I feel like that would be an awesome little combo right there,’ McBride said. Green wondered: ‘Why did we not do anything with that?’ Too busy, McBride replied.”
I don’t know about you, but I can almost hear lawyers rubbing their claws together at the thought of suing theater markets for damage caused by smoke inhalation. You’d probably need to sign a waiver upon entering the cinema, absolving the theater chain of any health-related problems caused by frequenting the establishment. Still, imagine the rewards program or ordering a bucket of popcorn and a pop alongside a spliff of Ghost Train Haze or Alaskan Thunderf*ck. The hotbox experience would be intense with the smoke from so many strains swirling in the air.
What do you think about ordering food and drinks in theaters? Is it perfectly okay? Super distracting? Should Danny McBride and his friends follow through on their Green Screen theater idea? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.